Behind the plot of dropping plague bombs in the United States during World War II

A member of Unit 731 performed a bacterial test on a boy in Nongan County, Jilin Province, China in November 1940. Photo: Xinhua News Agency

The stories of World War II have been told so many times that one can easily forget that some of the most baffling horrors of war remain a mystery to the public. For example, few people know that in the last year of the war, Japan planned a campaign of mass murder in the United States with biological warfare.

For the microbiologist, General Shiro Ishii, the leader of Japan’s chemical warfare investigation unit, Unit 731, led by him, was terribly close to dropping bombs containing a series of infected fleas. plague the territory of the United States.

Drills of this medieval disease were held in the closest neighboring country: China. Records at the Khabarovsk War Crimes Tribunal in 1949, where the trial of 12 members of Japan’s Dongguan Army on war crimes charges, revealed many things about this horrible conspiracy: “The Mistakes” The tick is used with the purpose of preserving pathogens, which carry plague bacteria and infect humans directly.

Unit 731 commander Japanese General Shiro Ishii, who had lived peacefully in postwar life thanks to American immunity in exchange for his investigation. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Introducing Unit 731 – Biochemical Weapons Research

After the Geneva Convention banned germ warfare in 1925, Japanese officials argued that such a ban only confirmed the weapon’s level of power. That thought led to Japan’s biological weapons program in the 1930s and the birth of the biological warfare division, under the name of Unit 731.

The Japanese army quickly captured Chinese civilians in its brutal experiments. After occupying large parts of China in the early 1930s, the military
Japan was stationed in Harbin, near Manchuria, expelling residents in eight villages and establishing the famous Harbin biological weapons facility. What happens here is one of the most inhumane activities of the 20th century.

The Harbin and Manzhou biological weapons facilities were occupied by the Japanese. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Terrifying studies here include trapping objects in a closed chamber and increasing air pressure until the victim’s eyes come out of the cavity, or determining how much G (radial acceleration force) is needed to cause death …

By October 1940, Japanese forces went on to study the plague war. They bombarded the city of Ningbo in eastern China and Changde in northern central China with bombs containing infected fleas. Qiu Mingxuan, who survived the bombing at age 9, later became an epidemiologist, estimated that at least 50,000 people were killed by the bombings.

“I still remember the panic among the people,” said Mingxuan. “They all closed the door tightly, fearful of leaving. Stores and schools are also closed. But in December, Japanese planes dropped bombs almost every day. We cannot keep the quarantine closed. Those who lived inside fled to the field, carrying the plague germ. “

After successful tests in China, Unit 731’s “mix” formula was ready for a long journey across the Pacific.

Special amphibious forces of the Japanese Imperial Navy, in gas masks, prepare to attack during the Battle of Shanghai in August 1937.

Campaign “Cherry blossom at night”

Japan originally intended to attack the United States with large balloon bombs. They successfully dropped around 200 of those bombs. The bomb is believed to have killed seven Americans, although the US government. USA Censored reports of deaths.

The “Night Cherry Blossom” campaign should have witnessed how the kamikaze pilots took their first attack in California. Toshimi Mizobuchi, rookie commander of Unit 731, planned to take 20 of the 500 Japanese soldiers who had just arrived in Harbin in 1945 to the southern California coast aboard a submarine. They will then board a suicide plane to San Diego.

According to the plan, thousands of fleas carrying plague bacteria will escape to the United States when these armies commit suicide by flying planes in enemy territory.

Investigators from Unit 731 conducted a bacterial experiment on children detained in the Nongan district of northeast China in November 1940. Photo: Xinhua News Agency

The campaign was scheduled for September 22, 1945. For the surviving witnesses and the assault force commander, Ishio Obata, this mission was “so disturbing” that it was difficult to remember decades later. “It was such a bad memory that I didn’t want to remember it,” said Obata. “I don’t want to think about 731. Fifty years have passed since after the war. Please let me be quiet.

Fortunately, the plot of “Night Cherry Blossom” never comes true.

Failure of the conspiracy against America

An expert from the Japanese Navy said that the Navy would never approve this mission, especially in the second half of 1945. At that time, the protection of Japan’s most valuable islands was more important. much more than carrying out attacks against the United States.

On August 9, 1945, the country began to “explode” as evidence of Unit 731’s human experiments. The best known was during an important meeting in July 1944, General Hideki Tōjō, Japanese Prime Minister, refused to use the germ war against the United States. He realized that the defeat of Japan was probably imminent and that the use of biological weapons would only intensify retaliation by the United States.

Japanese bombers flew from Chongqing between 1938 and 1943. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Meanwhile, before dying of throat cancer in 1959, Shiro Ishii, commander of Unit 731, was still living in peace thanks to the granting of immunity from the United States in exchange for his biochemical and biological studies. get it

In the end, perhaps only Hideki Tōjō’s intervention prevented the mass deaths of American civilians. More than a week after Japan surrendered, Tōjō committed suicide with a pistol, but was saved. His death occurred three years later when Hideki Tōjō was sentenced to hang by an international court for war crimes.

According to baotintuc.vn